


About Time

by orphan_account



Series: The Py-Romancer Series [3]
Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Egobang - Freeform, F/M, Foreshadowing, Gen, High School AU, Kissing, M/M, Not my AU, grumpyporn, rubbercommander - Freeform, slight angst, super hero AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 21:57:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11449869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It's finally happening! What's "it"? Find out for yourself.





	About Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grumpyporn](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=grumpyporn).



> Happy Birthday Grumpyporn!!!!!!!! This has been a hell of a pause between parts but I really wanted to get this out for your birthday. I know i usually send you an ask before I post this part to make sure you're still okay with it, but i wanted to surprise you! Though, if you're uncomfortable, i can just take this down, no biggie at all!!!! Also, anyone reading, this was NOT my original idea, it is @grumpyporn on tumblr's. Please read THEIRS FIRST!!!!! All the parts are on their tumblr.
> 
> Enjoy! Or dont!

"Alright! Ladies, gentlemen, faeries, and mutants, let's get down to business." With a flick of her pencil, all the kids departed from their small cliques or phones and aligned themselves against the wall. Internally sighing, Arin followed suit, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. 

"Today," Ms. Combusto started, gesturing to the other wall, which was decorated with different colored targets, "if you haven't noticed, is target practice. Your final is next week, which means one of two things: you either pass, and can move on out of this classroom--" Arin sighed a little 'yess' under his breath-- "or you fail, and start over. So let's see how you all are coming along. Ms. Anne-Marie, you're up first."

Ms. Anne-Marie, otherwise known by her first name, Tiffany, stepped up nervously, though she was probably the best fire bender in here. Rumor had it she didn't even belong here; she just signed up because somewhere along the way someone told her to waste ten credit hours on the beginners course. So here she was, showing everybody up. Not that they didn't like it. She was a natural. Her power was simple and clean: shooting fire through the fingertips. Arin secretly envied her.

"Do I go?" she asked timidly. Without looking up, Ms. Combusto nodded.

"Yep. Whenever you're ready, at any one of the blue targets, please."

Tiffany took in a breath, and aimed her finger like a gun at one of the blue targets, the farthest away from the students and the smallest. Blink, and you'd miss it: just like that, a short burst of flame shot across the room and landed on the blue target. It didn't land in the middle, but it got close. Seconds later, the target was reduced to burning ashes on the floor. Scattered clapping came from the students, followed by a few whoops from her friends. Ms. Combusto smiled. Not like anyone expected anything different.

This was what "getting down to business" meant in terms of this class, which occurred only twice a week. One day was target practice, the other was busy work. 

It went like this in a similar fashion down the line. Ms. Combusto would call over a student and ask them to shoot a target based on their capability: red targets for underperforming students, yellow for intermediate, and blue for excelling. Arin was in the middle, because, at least for him, fire breathing was a little harder to control than fire shooting.

Also, enter the variable of having to cuss every time he did it. In front of the whole class.

So needless to say, said business was probably Arin's least favorite to have to do.

He knew that averting his eyes would do nothing, but Arin did anyway as Ms. Combusto looked over at him. She tried to hide her smug smile behind her clipboard. She knew. Everyone knew. "Hanson, you're up."

He winced at the sound of his name, and almost seemed to curl into himself as all conversations and muddled praise stopped on a dime. Without even looking from the ground, he could feel twenty sets of eyes burning through him as if he himself were one of the targets up for grabs. Arin almost tried to convince himself that if he didn't move or speak, he'd suddenly turn invisible. But he knew that wouldn't happen. The invisible kids were down the hall.

"Do I have to?" Arin asked, barely above a mumble.

"We do this every time Arin, yes you do. At a yellow target, please."

Arin paused and glanced around the room, and he couldn't help the passing thought of wishing someone he knew was in here. He had aquaintences, sure, but they mostly stuck to their closer friends whenever a group situation occurred, which was 99 percent of the time.

For a moment he wished Dan was here. He'd help. He'd make it to where Arin would never have to do this again. He would...would-

Would what? What made Arin think that Dan would do anything for him? _Well, he invited you to a party,_ his conscious told him. His conscious then retorted with, _In that case, I'm sure we're besties now._ Dan was a villain, he told himself over and over. Bad guy. Bad person. Level five! He was supposed to try and take over the entire world; he was manipulative and cunning and he couldn't, absolutely couldn't, under any circumstances, be trusted.

But Arin was drawn to him.

"Sometime today, Hanson."

"Dammit," he murmured. A little plume of smoke murmured with him. Ms. Combusto sternly aimed at him with her pencil, and he could almost hear her saying, "Save it for practice."

With an exaggerated sigh, Arin stepped up to the little line taped into the floor. His eyes fixed on a yellow target, and he opened his mouth. Redness tinted his ears, and the palms of his hands grew sweaty. Why was he always so nervous to do this? Cussing wasn't unheard of here. Maybe frowned upon, but definitely not uncommon.

Arin always remembered how the first time he ever did this, Ms. Combusto commented on how she'd never seen that kind of power before. She even suspected him of faking it for the sake of faking it. Maybe that was why he was so nervous all the time. He was a first in this school. _Is Dan a first?_ he couldn't help but wonder.

"Go on," encouraged one of the students. Arin turned his head and saw that it was Tiffany. She raised her hand in a small wave. "We won't tell on you." Kids around her chuckled. 

Arin nodded, and took in a deep breath. He trained on one of the targets. Closing his eyes, he willed himself inside his dorm, alone, with no one around to see him except the birds Barry asked to watch his parfait in the fridge.

Unable to dismiss the silliness, he embraced it, and Arin screamed "FUCK" at the top of his lungs at the yellow target. A messy burst of flame hurled itself across the room and slammed into the paper target. In seconds, it was reduced to nothing but ash. Claps rang out around him, paired with a few laughs. No one could take it seriously.

Arin looked to Ms. Combusto for some kind of approval. She was shaking her head as if disappointed, but a chuckle was caught on her lips.

"If only you didn't have to be so vulgar."

***

Lunch was little lonely today, Dan noted as he glanced over at Ross' empty seat. He'd waited several minutes, thinking that maybe Ross only had to drop off his books, but time told him that maybe he had other plans, until suddenly, a shadow casted over him and his phone game.

"Hey Ross!" A pause. "Oooo, and Holly."

Ross smiled knowingly, and threw a dismissive hand in Dan's direction. The other was around Holly's shoulder. "Oh, hello Daniel. I'd like you to meet my GIRLFRIEND, Holly." Holly, as if she'd never met Dan, raised her hand in a wave. Her hair was dyed another color: a lightish green that shimmered under the fluorescent lights. Had she turned into an elf recently? Her ears were slightly pointed. It was probably some kind of costume: Holly loved cosplaying as different things. Sometimes a mermaid, or an animal. Dan never saw the attraction, especially seeing as she could just shape shift into whatever form she wanted. But she was good at it, and it made her happy, so why bash it?

Dan set his phone on the table and clasped his hands together, resting his chin on top of them. "Ooooooohh, well congratulations Ross, buddy. Congratulations Holly. This one's a keeper."

Holly giggled and stole a look at Ross, who was now blushing. They sat.

"So does this mean that I can't make you do anything with my fancy powers?"

"Off limits," said Ross. His hand sliced through the air in a mom-like fashion. "If we can't mess with your boyfriend then you can't mess with my girlfriend."

Dan's cool kid facade slipped a little when he heard that. He sat up straighter on instinct, but tried to play it off by crossing his arms. "Are people still going on about that? He isn't my boyfriend."

Ross rolled his eyes. "Suuure. Even after kissing at the party, you guys aren't doing anything?"

"What are you talking about? We didn't kiss at the party."

Both Holly and Ross looked somewhat shocked. They both expected that, he of all people, would jump at the chance to kiss someone he liked. What was the point of inviting Arin to the party then? Of going in the closet? If there was anyone who'd go to a party with someone they were crushing on and not kiss them, even though they were right in front of you, it'd be Ross. Not Dan. 

"You guys didn't kiss?" asked Ross.

"I already said that we didn't. Nope."

"Well then.. Why--Why'd you even invite him?" Ross leaned forward, lowering his voice as he said, "You do want to kiss him right?"

Dan opened his mouth to deny it, but he couldn't. He just sighed, smiling, and leaned back in his seat. "Maybe." 

Ross stood suddenly, and glanced around the cafeteria as if he were expecting Arin to already be in here. But he wasn't, of course. So Ross just put his hands on his hips. "Well, then. Let's go get him and solve this."

"Wha-- I thought you didn't like him!" Dan reminded with a laugh as Ross grabbed his wrist. 

Ross waved Holly goodbye and started walking towards the door. "I don't, but I'm not going to sit here with Holly, who I've been hoping to be with for, like, ever, KNOWING how dumb I am with girls, while you: charming, amazing Danny, sit with no kiss to his name."

Dan jokingly placed his hand on his heart. "How sweet of you."

"No problem. Let's go."

Before they exited the cafeteria, Ross (now with Danny attached to him) popped out of the room.

***

Arin never cared for lunch. It had started when he was in his old, normal-kid middle school: He often had other things to do on the computers anyway, be it papers or homework or just flat out playing video games. The habit of skipping lunch stuck with him. It's not like it hurt; he always had a big breakfast anyway.

So he and Barry (who was also prone to skipping lunch) had decided to camp out in their dorm room for the forty five minute allotted time. They were versing each other in an ever-increasingly heated game of Smash. Arin kept losing, because Barry had been playing this game, "since, like, birth," as he'd proclaimed. 

Arin wasn't so much annoyed by the fact that he kept losing, more so that he needed to keep a grasp on his profanity. Everytime he lost a match, swears would slip out, followed by small bursts of flame. He couldn't wreck his game just because he couldn't control his temper. This was the third one he'd bought.

"Face it!" Barry taunted. "I'm just superior!"

Arin sighed, exasperated. "No, I will never!" Arin made an I-got-my-eye-on-you gesture with his hand. Then he pointed to the carpet of the dorm menacingly. "You're going DOWN!"

"If we're all going down on everything, how about you go down on Dan here?"

At the the sound of a sudden, unfamiliar voice, both Arin and Barry jerked their head around, abandoning their games and poising themselves to fight. Arin already had a string of curse words stuck on his lips, ready to shoot.

But his initial shock faded when he saw that the voice belonged to Ross, who was holding Dan by the wrist, who looked like he really didn't want to be here.

"Dan?" asked Arin. He stood, along with Barry. The contempt on Barry's face was etched clearly. "What are you doing here?" The other question he was going to say, 'How did you get in here', was discarded, as the fact of Ross being a teleporter already answered it.

Dan simply pointed at Ross, who raised his chin and smiled proudly. He let go of Dan.

"He wanted me to--" Dan started to say.

"You. He wants you." Ross pointed a very intimidating finger at Arin, who felt his ears go hot as if he were being caught doing something he shouldn't.

Dan just smiled, ran a hand through his hair, tried to play it cool, when he seemed to just notice that Barry was here too. Ross noticed at the same time, and the sudden silence that pervaded the room made Arin's skin crawl. They were just... Staring at each other. Arin wanted to speak up, but for some reason was afraid to. 

Dan cleared his throat, and the air seemed to jump back to normal. "Well, yes. I did want to see Arin. But I guess I have to do it on Ross' time instead of mine. So, uh, Arin, will you join me?"

Even though he could feel Barry's gaze burning him up from behind, he said yes, of course.

"Ross," Dan teased, "you wanna stay with him?" He gestured to Barry.

Ross just uttered a loud one syllable bark of a laugh, and disappeared.

***

The sun was hot overhead and it shined on the two with a vengeance. They attempted to walk and talk, but the heat prevented them from doing so. Dan even had to abandon his trademark leather jacket, which was saying something because the guy was always cold. So they opted to sit in the shade of the school, near the cafeteria, on one of the cool, concrete benches.

"So," said Arin, who wasn't quite sure why he was in this situation, "what do you want me for?"

Dan wasn't even looking in his direction. He was focusing on two water benders flinging ice spikes at each other, even though they weren't supposed to be using their powers on campus. No one really followed the rule, and the teachers knew it, but those who got caught served detention. But it was clear those guys weren't getting caught.

"I dunno." Dan shrugged, as if he totally wasn't lying.

Arin crossed his arms. "You don't know. You pulled me out of my battle--"

"You were playing Smash."

"--my VERY intense battle against Barry, to sit me here, and tell me you don't know? I call bull."

Dan put his hands up in mock surrender. "Fine. I do know. But...I'm embarrassed to say."

It was still so strange to see Dan like this. So... *human.* Barry played up so much how scary he was, how evil and psychopathic and world domination-bent he was, that Arin was terrified to look in his direction. But to see him as he was now: just a high schooler sitting next to another, it was confusing. 

But Arin had gotten used to the confusion lately. 

Just to tease him, Arin scooted just a bit closer. "I'm listening," he said with a smirk.

Dan scooted a tad closer too, though Arin saw that he didn't even realize that he'd done it. "Okay. Look. I want to shoot straight."

"You want to, but you're not good at it."

"Then I'll shoot it gay." Arin laughed at that. "The main reason I'm here is because Ross dragged me away from lunch when I told him that I didn't kiss you at the party even though he and Holly kissed at the party. So he wants me to kiss you to get it out of the way."

Arin was looking at him, but Dan was still talking in the direction of the kids messing with each other. He was acting more nervous than Arin was the first time they met. He snickered. "But do _you_ want to?"

Dan shrugged. He probably meant to seem like he didn't care whether it happened or not, but in doing that, he showed that he wanted it to happen very much. Or...at least cared about what happened. "I mean, only if you want to. I won't force you." He finally turned his head and locked eyes with Arin, giving that devilishly handsome smirk. The nervousness was appareantly gone in a second (or at least hidden). "Kissing the most attractive, smart, and smooth guy in the school would probably get some people talking though. More than they already are."

Arin couldn't help but smile. "Arrogant little prick aren't you?" he asked playfully.

Dan shook his head a little. "I wasn't talking about me."

_Oh damn it,_ Arin thought as he leaned in and pressed his lips against Dan's. He couldn't help the little smile he gave when he heard the surprised noise Dan made at this.

He was a little taken aback at his own courage, but he didn't have much time to revel in his glory, because _my god_ this was a good kiss. It wasn't spectacular or anything, but Arin hadn't had a lot of kisses in his lifetime, and this one was just very...nice. It wasn't forced or awkward or sloppy or smelly. It was actually quite sweet and soft, and somewhere along the way he could feel Dan wrap his arms around his waist and he definitely was not protesting to that. In fact, he closed that last inch between them just to give him the proper room to do it. Their bodies were completely pressed up against each other, and when Dan pulled away for a second, he seemed a little surprised.

"Huh," Dan said, "I thought I'd be the one to kiss you, not the other way around."

"Uhh...me too, honestly."

"I'm pleasantly surprised."

"I'm not sure how I feel."

Dan titled his head to the side slightly, and for a second, he was comparable to a little brown puppy. "Did you like it?"

Arin thought for a moment "Mm.....yeah."

"There's your answer." Dan leaned in again.

He had to say, being kissed was just as fun and kissing someone. To be guided into the comfort of someone else's arms, knowing that you both trust the other.

And despite his best efforts, he couldn't help but trust Dan. Maybe he was stupid, naive, or childish, but he did. As evil as he was supposed to be, as manipulative and bold and level five as he was meant to be; Arin trusted him more than he trusted most people. Barry couldn't trust him as far as he could throw him, but that didn't change anything, even though it probably should've. And as Arin looked into his eyes when they pulled apart again, and watched Dan break into a huge grin, Arin realized that Dan trusted him too.

When he noticed that he was staring, he turned away and stared ahead. Dan did the same thing, as if he realized he was staring too. The two water benders had stopped what they were doing, and were watching them, whispering to each other. When they were caught, they ran off, laughing.

"Yeah, there will definitely be no way to deny the rumors now," said Dan.

"Rumors?"

"That we're dating."

Arin looked at Dan. He was still looking ahead, but he was smiling now. Even though it felt a little embarrassing, Arin had to ask. "Uh...Are we?"

Dan shrugged. That 'I dont know, I don't really care' shrug. "I dunno. Are we?"

Arin looked at the ground. There was a little spider crawling along the concrete, making its way to the grass, and he watched it go all the way to the edge of the sidewalk, stop, and then turn left and crawl that way instead.

Were they dating? The decision seemed to be entirely up to him at this point. At his core, he knew she shouldn't. Barry'd have his head.

But he hadn't really listened to Barry lately, had he?

Arin smirked, stood up from the bench, kissed Dan on the cheek, and said, "Hell yeah we are," next to his ear. The little hiss of flame just skirted past his hair; then he left for his dorm, not waiting for Dan to come with him, very satisfied with himself when he caught the slightly shocked, excited look on Dan's face.

***

"Was it good?"

"Yeah."

"Did it last a long time?"

"I guess."

"Did he kiss you or did you kiss him?"

"Did I ask this many questions when you kissed Holly?"

Ross flopped onto Dan's bed, even though he wasn't allowed in here, seeing as it was not only after curfew, but also not his room. And he should also be asleep, though from looking at him, you couldn't tell: Ross was in shorts and a tee shirt, and not pajama pants and tank top like Dan was.

"Sorry for being intrusive," said Ross in a tone that made it clear he was not sorry at all, "I just wanna know."

"I thought you didn't like him." Dan reminded Ross once again of the thing you'd think it'd be hard to forget. He was curled up in his computer chair, eyes glued to a book in futile hopes that Ross would think he was reading and leave him alone. It didn't work, of course. But he tried anyway, because he really didn't want to talk about this.

"I don't like him," replied Ross. He sat up. "But I like Holly. And Holly likes Arin. And I like you. And you like Arin. So I have to get used to him being around."

Dan scoffed. "Apparently."

It was quiet for a few moments, and Dan kind of thought that Ross would just leave, or fall asleep, and he started to get comfortable. He actually got a few pages through the book he was pretending to read. But then Ross spoke again.

The tone he said it with made Dan stop. His voice was so quiet, so small. Like he was afraid to say it. "He's roommates with Barry."

Dan moved his hair out of his eyes. "Yeah, I know."

"Can you imagine what he's said about us?"

Probably everything he'd said to their faces and more. Yes. Dan could imagine. He nodded.

"It's a wonder he didn't mess up Arin's perception of you."

Dan just studied the ground. He was starting to feel those same emotions again. Those same emotions that caused what deemed him a level five villain. He closed his eyes and willed himself calm.

"Yeah. It's a wonder." He closed the book, suddenly feeling like sleep. "You wanna leave, Ross? I'm ready to go to bed. We have class in the morning."

Ross looked at him, and he could feel that Ross knew it was a bullshit excuse, but he obliged anyway. 

"See you then," he said before popping out.

Yeah.

See you then.

**Author's Note:**

> I know it was a tad short compared to the last part, but oh well!!!!! Send me your thoughts on it!


End file.
